Concurrent with advances in data storage technology, computing power, and data communications technology, a large amount of information is available to the computer user. This information may include text files, images, audio clips, video clips, computer programs, movie scripts, biological or medical data items, or other information that has been stored in digital format. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing how this information may be stored and presented. Specifically, FIG. 1 shows a computer 100 having a processor 101, a monitor 102 for visual display, speakers 104 for audio presentation, a keyboard 106 and mouse 108 for receiving commands from a user, and a hard drive 110 for localized storage of information. Also shown in FIG. 1 are remote databases 112, 113, and 114 coupled to computer 100 by means of a network 116. Although many variations of the configuration of FIG. 1 may be used, the hard drive 110 is usually capable of storing only a relatively small amount of information. In one common configuration, the network 116 is the Internet, and databases 112-114 are any of a variety of miscellaneous nodes connected to the Internet.
In general, the speed of presentation of database information to a user at computer 100 is relatively fast when the desired information is contained directly on the hard drive 110, and is relatively slow when the desired information needs to be accessed from the remote databases 112-114. The current level of technology generally allows the user to submit a search request to any of a variety of pre-indexed search engines and to receive in response a set of pointers to database nodes that may contain the desired information.
If the network 116 is the Internet, these pointers are commonly known as Universal Resource Locators or URLs. The user receives these URLs in a prioritized flat file listing. The user may then access the database nodes corresponding to these pointers one at a time.
In many cases the overall database formed by remote databases such as databases 112-114 forms a hierarchical relational database, each database node generally containing pointers to other database nodes. In this case, at any given database node the user may follow pointers to a successive sequence of database nodes, many of which may not be listed in the prioritized flat file listing generated by the search engine. In this way, the user may serially navigate through the large preexisting database hierarchy.
The current level of technology in database presentation has several drawbacks. For example, the current level of technology is not well adapted for serial presentation of items taken from multiple databases having many boundaries and differing formats. Presently, the serial navigation of the user is constrained by the preexisting database hierarchy, in that the next serial database node is either (a) constrained to the set of pointers at the present node, many of which may be irrelevant to the overall search desires of the user, or (b) constrained to the flat file listing given by the search engine, each data pointer in the flat file being generally unrelated to any other data pointer.
This causes seams in the serial presentation of data, in that the next data item is often either (a) unrelated to the desired search parameters, as when pointers are followed into the existing hierarchy that are not listed in the flat file generated by the search engine, or (b) related to the search parameters but highly unrelated to the previous data item, as when the flat file listing generated by the search engine is strictly followed by the user. Symptoms of seams in the serial presentation of data items according to the present technology include slow access times to desired information, defunct data sets or locations, recirculating pointers, and "dead-end" data items.
When data is being presented for a combination of entertainment and educational purposes, as is often the case when the remote databases 112-114 are nodes on the World Wide Web portion of the Internet, seams cause the aesthetics of the serial presentation process to be perceived as less desirable, because the user must "back out" of unrelated or serially disjointed data items. The undesired presence of seams in the serial presentation of data is often exacerbated by the slowness of data transmission across large networks such as the Internet. If the serial presentation of data items were instantaneous from one data item to the next, the presence of seams might be more acceptable to the user, who could instantaneously back out of an unrelated or serially disjointed data item. However, if each data item takes a period of time (even as short as a few seconds) to present, the presence of seams can be a disadvantage to the user, who must view or hear an undesired portion of data while the next candidate item is retrieved.
One prior art method that attempts to solve one of the above problems is directed to a method for off-line downloading of entire hierarchical databases onto a user's local hard drive for non-real time viewing. Such a method is embodied in a commercial product named "WebWhacker," sold by Forefront Technologies, Inc. However, in this method there is merely a direct copying of a portion of the existing hierarchical database structure onto the user's local hard drive. In particular, the same hierarchical structure is maintained. While serial presentation of the database items is expedited, from one item to the next, the same limitations associated with the existing hierarchy are present, still causing seams in the serial presentation of data items to the user.
The current level of technology in database presentation has further shortcomings related to the serial presentation of database information to the user. In particular, the user is required to actively participate in decisions and issue affirmative commands after the presentation of each data item. When the number of results obtained from a search is large, even indexed displays may require large numbers of keystrokes and excessive viewing time to experience an item of interest. Conventional data presentation methods such as graphical browsers and relational database formatted-field displays require the user to indicate what the next display screen will be, and when it will be displayed. Typically, the user accomplishes this by clicking on a "next" button or a line of displayed hypertext called a "hot-link". It may be desirable for the user to experience the serial presentation of the desired data without being required to issue such commands, while the presented sequence of data items is still being relevant to the desires of the user.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a method for serially presenting data in a large database according to desired search parameters of a user in a seamless manner.
Additionally, there remains a need in the art for a method for fast serial presentation of desired data items stored at remote database locations, despite the presence of real-time delays associated with the downloading of information from these remote databases.
Additionally, there remains a need in the art for a method which provides automated serial presentation of the desired data items, in that affirmative commands from the user after the presentation of each data item are not required.
Even further, there remains a need in the art for a method which provides adaptive serial presentation of the desired data items, wherein affirmative commands from the user after the presentation of each data item are not required, and wherein the data items serially presented are selected according to past commands issued by the user.